Leaving Empty Strangers
by xoleanderx
Summary: On November 19, 2007, exactly one month after his brother was taken, Dean sat on the tile in a dingy motel bathroom and cried. [One Shot]


**Summary:** On November 19, 2007, exactly one month after his brother was taken, Dean sat on the tile in a dingy motel bathroom and cried. One Shot

**Author's Notes:** The general idea for this sort of came into my head after watching 'Playthings', so I sat at my computer, poised my fingers over the keyboard and waited for something to come out. Hopefully you'll all enjoy the end result. The title comes from the lyrics of the song "I Am Only Waiting" by ZOX. I don't use a beta, so all mistakes are mine.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. A girl can dream though.

**---**

**Leaving Empty Strangers**

Sam went missing on October 19, 2007.

Things with The Demon had slowed down. After Ava's disappearance in the beginning of the year, there had been one more, in May. They had never actually confirmed if the young man had "abilities" or not, but Sam had freaked out for about a week. After that, though, things slipped back to normal. Or, at least, as normal as they could be.

It was a routine hunt, a spirit in Virginia. They did a quick salt-and-burn, escaping with a few bruises, but nothing too bad. In the car ride back to the motel, Dean teased Sam about how the ghost girl seemed to have a thing for him.

They returned to the motel, and Sam collapsed on the bed as Dean took a shower. When he exited the steamy bathroom ten minutes later, Sam was gone, and the room smelled of sulfur.

On October 20, 2007, Dean called Ellen, Bobby, and Missouri.

Ellen told Dean that she would put out a word at the Roadhouse.

Bobby told Dean that he would call everyone he knew.

Missouri told Dean not to worry, that they would find Sam.

Dean checked all the hospitals in the area for anyone matching Sam's description on October 22, and then all the hospitals in the state on October 23.

On October 26, he filed a missing person's report.

At a gas station in Tennessee on November 5, Dean saw someone with shaggy brown hair paying at the cash register. He grabbed him by the shoulder, whipping him around, only to see that it wasn't Sam. Dean apologized and left without paying for the gas.

In Iowa, on November 12, Dean saw Sam walking down the sidewalk, but when he looked again, he was gone.

On November 19, 2007, exactly one month after his brother was taken, Dean sat on the tile in a dingy motel bathroom and cried.

That night, Dean had a nightmare about Sam, and woke up screaming.

November 25, in Wisconsin, Dean read a newspaper article about a patient in a mental hospital who claimed to have psychic abilities that vanished without a trace in the middle of the night.

On December 14, Missouri called Dean to tell him that a young psychic, a friend of a friend of a friend, had disappeared the night before.

Dean got drunk and angry on December 31, 2007, and lit Dad's journal on fire. By the time he came to his senses and stomped the flame out, half of the book was turned to ash.

Dean watched the ball drop on the cheap motel television, and thought about his mother.

He walked into his motel room in Arizona at 12:34 in the morning on January 17, 2008, slightly tipsy, and saw a silhouette against the window. Dean pulled the gun from the waist of his jeans - he carried it everywhere now - and had it trained at the stranger before the door had fully closed.

"Who are you?"

Dean blindly reached behind him, feeling for the light switch on the wall. A yellow glow filled the room, and he had to grab onto the doorknob to keep from falling down.

Sam looked the same, but different. He had a little more facial hair than Dean was used to; his hair was longer and looked like it hadn't been washed in a while.

It was Sam's eyes that broke his heart. They weren't black, like Meg's, or yellow, like The Demon's... they were green, like Sammy's. Dean looked in his brother's eyes and saw six-month-old Sammy, curled in his arms, and Dean almost lost it right then and there.

_"He said that I had to... save you."_

_"Save me from what?"_

_"He just said that I had to save you... and nothing else mattered. And if I couldn't, I'd..."_

_"You what, Dean?"_

_"That I'd have to kill you. He said I might have to kill you, Sammy."_

Dean looked in Sam's eyes and pulled the trigger.

_---_

_end._

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End file.
